a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new or improved surface conditioning attachment for use with roadway maintenance equipment, in particular in maintenance operations on gravel roadways.
b) Description of the Prior Art
A major problem in maintaining a gravel road is that of trying to prevent the gravel from being lost into the ditches bordering the road or from accumulating on the road shoulder in the form of a ridge or berm. It is also important to control the spreading of vegetation such as grass and weeds on the road shoulders so that it does not creep onto the road surface.
With constant maintenance by means of a motor grader or the like, a ridge or berm of displaced gravel and like material is produced on the edge of the road. This berm prevents water from running freely off the side of the road, and as a result cuts are formed by escaping water, and gravel is lost in these cuts.
The present methods used to control these problems involve the use of herbicides for controlling growth of vegetation on road surfaces. However this entails a problem since the herbicides cannot be contained because of the leaching which occurs, and as a result too much vegetation is killed which causes spreading of the roadway. Additionally, herbicides cannot be used near water ways.
Vegetation growth on gravel road shoulders can also be controlled by various types of mulchers. However mulching requires specialized equipment, and although mulching will cut up the vegetation and mix it with the gravel, this is only a temporary solution, and is a costly one to repeat.
Accordingly, the most common approach applied is to periodically attempt to retrieve the road gravel from the shoulders using a motor grader, but this solution also causes grass and sod to be moved onto the roadway by the grader. Such material will not spread and therefore lumps are left at the side of the road. The presence of lumps of sod, grass and loose gravel on the side of the road in turn causes vehicle operators to steer well clear of the road shoulders, and this in turn raises the risk of collisions between vehicles travelling in opposite directions.